Qaeda, al-
The base. Militant organization formed circa 1986 by Osama bin Laden to channel fighters and funds for the Afghan resistance movement. Became a vehicle for the declaration of international military struggle against governments and Western representatives and institutions in the Muslim world, America, and other parts of the West. Influenced by the fundamentalist worldview and militant piety of seventh-century Kharijis, Wahhabism, and contemporary Egyptian extremist movements. Allied with the Taliban regime of Afghanistan; the alliance became a base for a network of organizations and cells throughout the Muslim world. Transnational in identity and recruitment; global in ideology, strategy, targets, economic transactions, and network of organizations. Embraces extremist militant views that are rejected by mainstream Muslims.